Contents of Bernie Madoff’s Seized Wine Cellar Up for Auction
May 18 online auction is now open for absentee bidding; items largely unimpressive
A 50-ml bottle of Smirnoff vodka and a crystal decanter filled with an unidentified brown liquid are among the items up for bidding at a May 18 online sale offered by Morrell & Company Fine Wine Auctions.
We have humbly accepted the opportunity to sell the seized cellar contents of two properties owned by Bernie Madoff on behalf of the United States Marshals office, the auction house announced its website. The proceeds from the sale of these items will go towards the general recovery effort. As artifacts of history they are unique, which is why we have chosen to offer all of the bottles seized, including those which normally wouldn't pass muster and make it into our auction. Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are.
The highest-ticket draw is lot 450, a dozen bottles of 1996 Château Mouton-Rothschild. The lot was estimated at $3,200-$3,800, but as of midday on May 11, it was bid at $5,500.
The12-sided crystal decanter of mysterious contents was estimated at $60-90, and is currently bid at $120. It could be a really expensive scotch, but it's impossible to divine, Kimberly Janis, director of Morrell & Company, told Bloomberg News. He's not talking.
Madoff , 73, is serving a 150-year prison sentence for running an estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
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